Chris Grainger: 1:01

Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, fellas, it is your meat episode. Let's get right into it, okay? So Scripture of the Week this week is John 3, verse 30. So just one verse. He must increase, but I must decrease. Now, guys, go back, listen to the spiritual kickoff episode, where we unpack this scripture, this one little verse at length, to help you figure out how you can simplify and apply it to your life. That's what it's all about. And again, if you like, the spiritual kickoffs. We do these Monday through Friday within our Lion Within Us community. So head over to the lionwithinus, click on over on the community, join over to thelinewithinus, click on over on the community, join the daily spiritual kickoff. It's a great way to get that little boost that you need to get your day started right Now. This is going to be a fun little episode, guys.

Chris Grainger: 1:50

We brought in Jason Woodard. He is a dedicated believer. Brother, I'm here to tell you this man loves the Lord. He's called to leadership in lots of different areas. He's been married for over 30 years. What a testimony areas. He's been married for over 30 years. What a testimony.

Chris Grainger: 2:03

Father of three, grandfather of two 20 years of experience working in operational leadership so actually manufacturing, which is really close to my heart because that's been a big part of my life. And his leadership we talk about it. It extends so far beyond just his profession. He's in different leadership roles within his church and he's done that for several decades. He's all in and he started his own Biblical Leadership at Work podcast where he's just trying to do what God's called him to do, to be faithful and to be honoring and serving others with leadership principles. So he's just a delight to be around.

Chris Grainger: 2:49

He's going to share some really good insights today on how you can practically take your faith and incorporate it. Just bring it directly to the work that we have, because your mission field is wherever you find yourself employed. That is a great place to do the work that God's called you to do, and Jason gives a lot of insights on how to do that. So hopefully you guys enjoy this conversation with my friend, jason Woodard. Well, jason man, welcome to the Lion Within Us. How are you doing today?

Jason Woodard: 3:20

I'm doing wonderful brother. Thank you, Appreciate you having me on. I look forward to being a part of everything you're doing.

Chris Grainger: 3:25

Yeah, man, absolutely. I'm so excited to have you on first and foremost. Man, before we kind of get into it, give us a little fun fact about you, something that maybe not everybody knows about.

Jason Woodard: 3:34

Oh man, fun fact I went to a different elementary school. For every year I was in elementary school Moved around a ton, like from first grade till, I think, sixth grade different school every year Wasn't good.

Chris Grainger: 3:52

I don't recommend it.

Jason Woodard: 3:52

I was about to say that had to be kind of tough man. That's crazy. It was tough man, yeah.

Chris Grainger: 3:56

Now, why was that? Was it like your military?

Jason Woodard: 4:00

No, no, my parents divorced before I got into school and you know they were newly divorced single parents trying to figure stuff out, you know so, and I went back and forth between them. You know, live with mom, live with dad, you know, kids, it's like mom's mean to me. So I'm gonna go live with dad and dad holds me accountable. I'm gonna go live with mom and right. So, yeah, we jumped all over and, uh, until seventh grade, seventh through twelfth, I went to the same school, lived in the same house, so things kind of finally settled in a little bit.

Chris Grainger: 4:30

Yeah yeah. Well, kind of get our, our listeners, up in speed a little of your backstory. Your your history man. I know you have a heart for, for leadership and biblical ethics and everything there, so I I know we'll get to that, but let them know who you are.

Jason Woodard: 4:44

Yeah, so on a personal side, I've been married for 32 years. My wife and I started dating in high school, so we've been together, by God's grace, for a long time. We have three kids, ages right now 29, 25, and 19. Ages right now 29, 25, and 19. Boy, girl, boy, two granddaughters that are five and one, so that's an absolute joy. We live in Southwest Michigan, battle Creek, michigan, which is famous for cereal. Kellogg's is headquartered here and, yeah, so back in the day made a lot of cereal. Yeah, our kids live here, while our youngest is still at home. Our two older kids are moved out but they live here in town, which is super cool, so we're very close to them. We all go to church together, we get to spend time together, so that's a huge blessing.

Jason Woodard: 5:44

On the professional side, I've worked in manufacturing my entire adult life. I started working in a manufacturing plant as soon as I got out of high school and went through the trades, did an apprenticeship back in the late 90s and started to develop a passion, as you said, around leadership. After that I've really felt called to learn more about being a better leader, both at work and, you know, in the church and at home. So I continued on with my education and eventually pursuing a business degree and then an MBA and you know the Lord's blessed my work and that I've moved up kind of through the ranks through manufacturing over the years. I'm currently a chief operating officer for a company called Geislinger Corporation that has a company here in town. It's owned by a family in Austria, but we have a US presence.

Chris Grainger: 6:34

That's cool.

Jason Woodard: 6:34

Yeah, so love operations. I can never imagine not doing something outside of manufacturing. I love, love walking into a manufacturing plant every day, and both because of the technology and making things, but also just the diversity of people that I get to work with in those environments. And yeah, my wife and I we own a 1929 English Tudor home. We love old houses and the character of that, so in our spare time we maintain the home. There's a saying I heard one time it's the only thing that works in an old house is the owner. So there's always something to work on and fix and we enjoy that. And, yeah, really involved in church and serving there in any way that we can.

Chris Grainger: 7:22

So that's super cool man.

Jason Woodard: 7:24

And I have a podcast, as you know. I have a biblical leadership at work podcast comes out once a month and I I love to interview people that are believers and leaders in the workplace and we just talk about how you honor Christ as a leader in the workplace. You know, and I and I, I speak with people who are not in ministry per se. They're, you know, they're not pastors, not missionaries. These are people in secular work environments and I love to learn from them and then share, you know, share what they've learned and what God's doing in and through them with my audience. So that's kind of another ministry that I'm involved in. That's how you and I met. So, yeah, amen, that's awesome.

Chris Grainger: 8:09

I somehow had misplaced the manufacturing side, so I mean, I grew up in manufacturing myself, so electrical engineer background and I've called on manufacturing plants my entire professional career and there's something really just cool, when you go into a plant, that you have raw materials on one end and you have a finished product on the other. That's just a neat process to watch.

Jason Woodard: 8:32

It is Yep, yep. It's fascinating and seeing all those people, all those different trades and backgrounds and skill sets come together to make it happen, it's fun. I mean, some days it's super stressful and frustrating, but it's always challenging. Never a dull moment.

Chris Grainger: 8:46

Talk about a mission field, though, man, jason, and that's where I think so many guys they miss it. It's like, look, your, your work, your profession, that you, you have the greater opportunity than any pastor on any Sunday to make an impact. So I mean, it sounds like you really leaned into that. So I'm just curious what, what led you into leaning into that biblical, you know, type of truth at work?

Jason Woodard: 9:08

Yeah, well, I would say probably 12 years ago. Maybe I started to really think more about that. I mean, I've been a believer for about 30 years and but it was only it's only been for probably about a decade where I really started to see that, you know, my work is what God's called me to do, not just to provide for my family. You and I both know Jordan Rainer and you know I'll probably quote some of the things that he says in his book uh, the sacredness of secular, workular Work. But it was about a decade ago when I really started to see that my work I knew my work had value in it and it was important. I've always had a strong work ethic. I was brought up to have a strong work ethic from both of my parents, so I had that. But it was like, okay, there's more to this job than just providing for my family, giving to the church, all the practical outcomes of a job, and I started to see that. You know, this is a. As you said, this is a, this is a missions field. Although you know, the majority of my time I'm not sharing the gospel verbally with people, I do. I do have the chance to do that on occasion and I, you know, take advantage of that when that opportunity arises. But the way that I work, especially on leadership, the way that you treat people, the way that you lead, you know people see that and you know you can MBA with a cornerstone university which is a university out of Grand Rapids, michigan, and it was an executive MBA, so it was meant for working adults. But that 18-month program and that school really helped me to see you're going into a missions field and whatever your work is, whatever your calling is, you know, even if it's not in full-time ministry. So your ministry is not just when you're teaching Sunday school or you know doing work at church or giving to missions. Those are all vitally important. But when you are going into that manufacturing plant or you're going into that, you know retail business or you're you know you're going into that electrical distribution company, as I know that's what you do, that's your missions field and you need to see it as that and look for opportunities to minister to people.

Jason Woodard: 11:36

And so over that last time period I think that that vision for me has solidified period. I think that vision for me has solidified. A couple of years ago I found Jordan Rainer started listening to his podcast. I was on his show, he was on mine, which was a huge blessing. I devoured his book before it was released as part of the podcast that I was going to do with them, and just that helped really firm up, you know that, that vision for me of what you know, what work is and the inherent value of work.

Jason Woodard: 12:11

God has made us, you know, god has made us to work, and so he's given us that as a blessing to take these gifts we've been given and go serve others, just like we're two in the church as believers. We have gifts in the church. They aren't for us, you know they're. They're for us to go serve others, just like we're two in the church as believers. We have gifts in the church. They aren't for us, they're for us to go serve. And I understood that Now I've better understood that my gifts in the workplace are also meant to go and serve my employer, the owners, but also my team and the people that I work with.

Jason Woodard: 12:41

And so, yeah, and so you know I've had, you know, one of the stories I love to tell about, as I said earlier, the majority of my time. We are running a business and we're running an operation and we're doing those things the way that you do it every day. You know matters for the kingdom and how you treat people and then occasionally you get a chance to share the gospel with someone and then possibly occasionally you get to see someone come to the lord, and I had us years. Years ago several years ago maybe it's been four or five years ago now I had a young man who had been on my team for about three years. Um, he had come to respect me. He was just a phenomenal employee and I'd helped him develop and move up a couple of promotions and I was getting ready to leave that organization for a different opportunity.

Jason Woodard: 13:33

And he and I went to lunch one day and I just wanted to make sure I stayed in touch with him and wanted to keep speaking into his life any way I could. And I asked him at that time. I was like he knew I was a believer, you know, and I knew he wasn't actively in church, but he was trying to be a good dad and husband and so I was like you know, you and your family ever think about? You know, getting plugged into a church and, you know, pursuing relationship with the Lord and and and I'd asked people that before, and they were like, yeah, you know, maybe someday. And he looked right at me, chris, and he was like, yeah, like we've been talking about that, we need to do that. I was like, well, you need to come to church with us. And so, long story short, this man and his wife and at the time they had one teenage son all became believers.

Jason Woodard: 14:25

Believers that got, came to our church, got baptized, growing in their faiths, have now adopted um three other little ones, are fostering two more. So they're just their family's blowing up. They're doing some great things there, but to you know, to have been a part of that and to have the lord use me in that way, it's one of the greatest joys of my life. I mean, aside from discipling my own family. And you know there's been many people over the years I've invited to church. Um, several have come and then not, you know, just come and gone.

Jason Woodard: 14:53

Um, I've, I've prayed with people, shared, shared the gospel with people. And you know the, the day-to-day stuff you're doing at work. You're building that foundation. You're you're doing at work. You're building that foundation. You're showing what Christ has done in you, that you're a changed individual, right and loving them. And then those opportunities come and yeah, you take them. So, anyways, that's a long answer to your question, but yeah, I highly recommend that book If any of your listeners haven't read it just really really helped me shape, you know, shape that vision of work for the believer. 100 percent.

Chris Grainger: 15:30

I'm very curious on that, that lunch conversation. So how long had you worked with that guy?

Jason Woodard: 15:36

That was about three, three and a half years that we'd worked every day together.

Chris Grainger: 15:40

OK, so he was seeing you day in, day out for a good period, so you had a connection there.

Jason Woodard: 15:46

Yeah, yeah, we worked closely together. Yeah, he was, yeah, like by that time, essentially a direct report. He was an interim for me, a direct report. I had, yeah, there had been a manager on my team that left and so this young man I'd put in that role. So we worked very close, my wife and I and him and his wife had gone. We took them out to dinner one time just for some exceptional things he had done at work, just as a recognition. So I, you know, I was purposely building that relationship, you know, and I, you know I loved him, but I also knew I'm planting some seeds and you know, if that opportunity comes. And man did it, I couldn't believe just how it. And man did it, I couldn't believe just how it's just been amazing.

Chris Grainger: 16:23

You talk about that and I think I talked to a lot of guys. I'd love to get your insight on this, because so many guys want to be the ones that harvest and and they forget that you know, if you, if, you're harvesting, somebody else been planting that seed well before then, so that's right. How do you view that so far as harvesting and sowing?

Jason Woodard: 16:44

Well, I mean, chris, I think that's very wise and it's biblical. So I've worked. I've been working for 30, whatever 32 years. I've been working. I've been saved for 29, 30 years by now, and that's the only time I've ever seen that kind of fruit. Okay, ever Now, but I've planted and I've watered for years. Sure.

Chris Grainger: 17:08

And.

Jason Woodard: 17:08

I've, like I said earlier, I can remember many times over the years that I've invited people to church and they've come for a while and not come back. Many more I've invited to church, many more I've shared my faith with, and so, to your point, the thing that I've had to come to realize is that my job is to be faithful and whatever that opportunity comes to share the gospel, to pray with someone, to invite them to church, you know, to give them a book that you know will point them to the gospel, and whether they accept it, reject it, you know, whatever that's not for us to worry about, ours is to be faithful. In that. You know I've, yeah, so I mean.

Jason Woodard: 17:58

I've had going along to that same story. When I invited that young man to come to church, there was another young man in my plant who I had been praying. I've had going along to that same story. When I invited that young man to come to church, there was another young man in my plant who I had been praying I've been praying for two guys specifically about this and there was another young man that I invited and found out that he grew up in the church that I was going to. He knew the church. I was like, oh, that's cool. I said you should come, we'd love to have you, and he never came, you know. And so, but again, planning, watering, cultivating, right, you just got to be I say, patient. It's not even that. You got to be faithful. Just be faithful and the outcome is the work of the Holy spirit. It's in God's hands, right 100%, 100%.

Chris Grainger: 18:46

Hey guys, we're going to take our first break. We'll be right back. I don't know about you, but I used to find Mondays really rough. I would find myself trying to reset for work, trying to get my bearing on the family calendar, trying to find time for my own spiritual growth and development, and often I found myself overwhelmed or just flatly ignoring aspects of my life that I know are meaningful to me. What I learned was that if I had immediate access to important and impactful spiritual topics and reflections to start my week well after the allure of a Sunday sermon has passed, I would set my whole week up to be more meaningful and for the opportunity to make a true impact.

Chris Grainger: 19:34

If you think that getting such a boost would help your week to get started on the right foot, we would love for you to sign up for the Weekly roar, which is our newsletter that is produced by the lion within us. Each week will deliver a powerful reflection and practical steps to help you apply scripture with clarity and purpose, all being rooted in light and truth. So in just a few minutes, we hope to arm you with insights for living out biblical leadership with confidence and strength, and maybe even have a little extra bounce in your step. If that sounds useful, head over to the lion withinus slash roar to sign up today. That's the lion withinus slash r? O aAR to get your weekly roar today.

Chris Grainger: 20:28

Well, jason, I'm just curious man. I mean again planting a lot of seeds for that many years and I talk to so many guys who get discouraged. I remember a conversation with a guy about a year ago and he was talking about how discouraging it can be to never harvest. Yeah, and maybe just you know, speak to that like what do you tell guys like that if they find they like just to keep?

Jason Woodard: 20:50

you know, be be faithful in that, yeah well, here's the thing, chris, I think and I you know, I'm a results guy, I'm a numbers guy, I'm a results guy, and so I've had to mature through that. But I will say this our I'll go back to what I said Our job is to be faithful. But as we're being faithful, we are giving God the glory. When you share the gospel with someone, when you invite them to church, when you work as the, working for the Lord and not for man all that's giving glory to the Lord and that to me.

Jason Woodard: 21:24

When I go home at night and I spend time, my prayer and scripture time is in the morning. So when I'm doing that and I'm reflecting on the prior day, I can be at peace and have joy that I glorified the Lord. If I did, if I worked as though I was working for the Lord and not for man and that I planted some seeds and I gave him glory.

Jason Woodard: 21:48

Whether they accepted it or not, you know his, his glory is shining through and I think that we need to focus on that, in which and again, that's a little bit more it's a lot more in our control to be able to do that and celebrate that and find the joy in that, to be able to do that and celebrate that and find the joy in that.

Jason Woodard: 22:04

And again, the results you know we and I don't have the names now, but I know there's been stories of missionaries that spend decades in a hard place and never see salvation or maybe see one, but they were called there to serve and you know God kept them there and you know he strengthened and he, he helped them persevere, and he will for us too. And that's, you know, we gotta, we gotta look at that and celebrate that and thank god for for allowing us to. He's using us, you know he's using us, even as we glorify him without seeing those, you know, quote-unquote results, because we're, you know, especially men, right, we want to see the results. We want to, you know, quote unquote results, cause we're, you know, especially men, right, we want to see the results. We want to. You know, see the kill bag, the bag, the win and all that.

Chris Grainger: 22:50

I am super curious. I mean, you said Michigan, right, that's that's, that's home. I mean, that's not the most conservative or Christian area.

Jason Woodard: 22:58

So I'm just curious how it received you know, and that type of demographic for where you're at which is where you should be, for sure.

Chris Grainger: 23:06

I'm just curious what type of pushback or resistance you get.

Jason Woodard: 23:10

I will say that I am. I am fortunate in that right. My whole life has been around blue collar people and.

Jason Woodard: 23:23

Michigan as a state is not real conservative, I will say West Michigan tends to be a little bit more, especially in the Northern parts, around Grand Rapids especially. But you get, you know Kalamazoo big college town. But yeah, where I am now, I mean when I go in and out of manufacturing plants most of the people I'm dealing with, where I am now I mean when I go in and out of manufacturing plants, most of the people I'm dealing with are pretty open to that. Still, I've not, you know, I've never had anyone get like angry with me about sharing my faith or being a believer, not outwardly. Sure, I've had people that are, you know, kindly thanks, but no thanks you know I've got.

Jason Woodard: 24:03

I've got somebody who I work with now that I've tried to build a relation. We have a good relationship and we've talked openly about faith and he's he's not a believer, he thinks about those things I've offered him. He's a he's a very intellectual person. He's a he's a very, uh, intellectual person, very, um, let's say, he's an engineer in his background and so, like I offered him a book that comes. It comes at this topic of the gospel in christ. It's called the the case for christ. So you know, it's just a very, you know, methodical hey here.

Chris Grainger: 24:41

That was a great book, man. Yeah, I did the bible study for that one once. I forget the author, but it was really good lee strobel that's strobel, strobel, that's it.

Jason Woodard: 24:49

I knew it. So you said I'm like, yeah, that's it yeah strobel was good man it's a really good book.

Jason Woodard: 24:54

So I, you know, I I bought a copy for him and said, hey, I'd like to give you this. And he was like no, I'm right now, I've got some other things on phone. Phone, I'm okay, that's cool. I'm not there to shove anything down his throat. That's not my work, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. I think you can be too aggressive and too pushy. One of two things can happen. You can either completely push someone away, which doesn't do us any good. I mean, you can speak the truth in love, and that's what we're called to do or the other thing it can do is lead to a false conversion, because we're like whatever yeah, yeah, I said a prayer and okay.

Jason Woodard: 25:35

Yeah, I checked the box and it's a false conversion. So you just take the time and plant water till you know. Do all the work. That's it. Yeah, if you're there when the harvest happens, praise the Lord. What an incredible joy that is to see the true conversion.

Chris Grainger: 25:52

Well, what led you, I mean, to now kind of walk into the path of content creation. What led you down this morning to start a podcast and going down that direction? Because from manufacturing that sounds like to me that's a pretty big leap to this.

Jason Woodard: 26:09

So March of 2025 is three years doing this. So three years, whatever. Three years ago before that, I had been praying towards the end of the year, you know, asking the Lord to give me direction on what you know that next year I should focus on. I had served on a couple of boards that my tenure had come up, so I had some time that had freed up, you know, like that prior year, and so I was really looking like what next I wanted to be careful about, you know, my time and what I was going to spend my time focusing on.

Jason Woodard: 26:49

And I love to mentor and disciple men. You know, there's men in my church, younger men, that I meet for coffee with, and just I want to be a help to them any way I can. You know I have two sons. I, you know, try to disciple and mentor them, so I try to be really proactive in that, and I've been a podcast listener for many years. It's just a great way to use it. I try to be very careful with my time and so it's a great way to use it. If you're driving, you're out working in the yard doing a project what a great way to learn and, you know, edify yourself.

Jason Woodard: 27:27

And so, as I prayed through it, this idea just started to kind of form that what if I somehow could do discipling, encouraging other leaders? I love leadership, I love to, you know, sharpen myself as a leader, read leadership content. What if I did a podcast? And so I started thinking about that and praying about it. That idea started to come around. I asked my wife about it and my wife is always like super encouraging, like yeah, go for it, try it, you know. So, yeah.

Jason Woodard: 27:57

So I had a close friend at church who I respect as a leader, a business leader and a solid brother, and so I was like, would you be my first Guinea pig, cause I kind of don't know what I'm doing? And he, he was. He was my first podcast guest. And then, uh, yeah, just started doing it and you know my prayer has been it's, you know, I don't cost a ton, but it's time and some money. Now my prayer has been to the Lord If, if you keep sending me people to interview and some kind, some people keep downloading it you know more than one or two, but I know it's not going to be thousands- I'm going to keep doing it and yeah, so it's not.

Jason Woodard: 28:41

It's not. I've not seen exponential growth, but it's steady, steady downloads. I get good feedback from it.

Chris Grainger: 28:46

Yeah.

Jason Woodard: 28:47

I, I love and, like you and I have done, getting on like this a call and just talking to another leader who loves the Lord and who's trying to be a better leader, I mean that's me that's what a great use of an hour, and so so, hey, let's just record it and share it with everybody is kind of how I look at it. So yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, that is so fun man yeah.

Chris Grainger: 29:10

So I mean, what's? What was the the steepest learning curve that you had with with starting the show?

Jason Woodard: 29:15

uh, editing the editing, and I just did my first two years. I just did audio, yep, and I, you know, I just didn't know anything about this stuff and I, you know, I bought a inexpensive mic and some headphones and I tried different editing software until I found one that I absolutely love. That's really meant for non audio engineers. Yeah, right, right, it's, it's called Descript is the system I use. Yeah, and yeah, that was the steepest learning curve. But once I got that down to a process, in the second year we started doing a YouTube channel, which again I was like I'm already doing the video, I'll just keep that content and it's. You know, we just kind of slowly added stuff. We send out clips and reels and all the short, you know, the short videos people like. And yeah, I'm a learner, I like learning how to do new stuff. So that part of it was fun for me and yeah, it's gotten to be kind of a it's once a month so it doesn't take a tremendous amount of my time, and yeah, so it's been good. I enjoy it.

Jason Woodard: 30:20

Once in a while I'll get an email or I got a text from a guy one time out of the blue. He worked for me three or four years ago and I hadn't talked to him since. We parted ways. I think he left the place. I worked at Good terms, no problem. He was a believer. I got a text from him, chris I mean out of the blue, and it said hey, I'm doing a Bible study with some men at church and they encouraged us just to send a note to someone to let them know. They're an encouragement to us and I've been listening to your podcast for the last whatever year or so and it's an encouragement to me. Thank you and appreciate it. And I was like yeah that just keeps you going.

Chris Grainger: 31:02

That's cool, man, If you can help some people. Yeah. What about your church? What type of feedback support Do they like it? Do your church members know about it? I'm just curious what they think about it.

Jason Woodard: 31:14

Yeah, there's a couple of the men that I well, the one guy that was my first guest, he was super encouraging and he listens to it. And then another one of my brothers who's a young manager, uh, in manufacturing actually, and uh, I serve with him as an elder and he, yeah, he listens to it and uh has good feedback. And then, other than that, uh, some people I get more, more of the people that watch, see the clips and reels that come out and may not listen to the whole thing but, yeah, encouraging overall but yeah, not as uh, I don't know how many people listen to it. I know there's at least a handful that are pretty regular listeners and they'll say something about a guest I have on and, you know, say how much they liked it.

Chris Grainger: 31:56

So, yeah, that's good, man, that's good I mean, that's the one thing I've noticed. For me is, is my church, for my situation? They don't really listen. You know, it's just it's kind of weird, it's like the whole thing. Jesus, like you know, a prophet is not welcome in his home town, you know, I just don't know what your dynamic was like yeah.

Jason Woodard: 32:14

I would say I know I. So I would say I know there's two guys that listen pretty steady and yeah, like none of my family listen, that's okay, you know. I mean, and I I actually shouldn't say that I have one of my sisters that I think listens pretty regular. She's pretty passionate around leadership and she's been supportive. Actually she supports me each month with a little financial support. She's the only one who does. She's great.

Chris Grainger: 32:39

So just another encouragement.

Jason Woodard: 32:40

Yeah, just people encouraging me, but yeah, Well, hats off to you, man.

Chris Grainger: 32:45

I mean, I'm sure you know you're being obedient and that's a big part of it, and so many guys just they lean away from the obedience, but you're taking that step. So I'm just just want to just keep encouraging you to keep putting that content out there. I mean, where do you think it's going next?

Jason Woodard: 32:59

Where do you think the Lord's leading you with it Now just more of the same. Once we did the YouTube at that. I want to at least do that for a year, which we're coming up on close, and see I may actually scale back. You know, if I don't, if I don't see that it's the work isn't impacting people, but if it is, I'm going to keep doing it. I mean, I don't see it becoming yeah, anything at this point more, but I want to keep doing it.

Jason Woodard: 33:26

You know, each year, like I said, as long as there's consistent downloads and and I keep getting guests, there's been times when I've struggled to find people and then all of a sudden, man, I'll get three or four or five people that are really interesting and want to be on it and I'm like, okay, let's do it, I'd put them out there. So you know, know, it's good, it's. It's good in that it's it doesn't take so much of my time that it months other stuff out. You know so and that's that's been good. I'm glad that I didn't. I know you, you're really pushing yours to be more of a like, a thing for you, like a full-time, possibly someday ministry, and that's awesome. I haven't felt called for this to be at anything like that. It's just more of a hobby ministry, I guess.

Chris Grainger: 34:10

I'm with you, brother, and I'm good with that.

Jason Woodard: 34:12

I've been, you know, really enjoyed it, like I said, just the fact that I get to meet some amazing people that when I first started doing it, probably the first six months, maybe the first year, it was all people that I know. You know, just guys that I've worked with before. But then now it's become you know people that they know, that they recommend, and now you know, like you, I mean, I I've never met you before. We did this and I just I just did, and this one, I think, was due to release January, february of 25. So, depending on when this comes out, it's probably already done. But the CEO of Our Daily Bread, oh wow, that's really cool.

Jason Woodard: 34:51

Yeah, I was like what Protestant Christian doesn't know Our Daily Bread? And then they're in Grand Rapids and I saw him at an event where he spoke and so I reached out to him via email and it was hard nailing his schedule down. It took months. But he was like, yeah, we'll do it, we just got to nail it down. So it was just an incredible conversation, just a humble, godly, very insightful man to talk to, and so it's like this is great. Yeah, that's been a joy man that's awesome.

Chris Grainger: 35:21

I mean this has been just good for us just to hear your story, jason, and encouragement just to lean in and do it Again. That obedience is such a big deal. When I reflect on the kind of things that the men who participated in our discipleship masterminds had in the past, I am overwhelmed by the quality of their comments and commitment to each other. Several of the guys commented that this was the most meaningful leadership experience they've encountered, and we even had one man logged into a discipleship mastermind while a hurricane was hitting his house. He was that committed and received that much from his peer group that he didn't want to miss it. Because of this extraordinary commitment and because it's a true gift and pleasure, we made them a core part of our community, and we hope you might join us.

Chris Grainger: 36:16

We sit up men with their own peer advisory group of seven individuals that meet every other week for 12 weeks. Each member shares areas they want to focus on, such as improving their prayer life, being more intentional with their wives or maybe shedding a few extra pounds. Together, we help them strategize, make commitments, find accountability and learn. It's been our experience that most guys want a community of trustworthy men to share their ideas and create support for each other with, and it's been our experience that most men don't either create this for themselves or seek them out. So we do this because we want you to have that in your life, and all that is needed to begin winning is you.

Chris Grainger: 37:08

If this sounds interesting, check out our community to see the dates and times of when these different groups meet. Visit thelionwithinus to start your free trial of our community. To get started today, that's thelionwithinus and I would love to see you lean in and tap into the power of our discipleship masterminds. But before we wrap it up, I always like to do a lightning round on the lion within us man If you want to play, we'll jump right here and have some fun.

Chris Grainger: 37:43

Let's do it. Well, what do you enjoy doing for for like a hobby? You got any hobbies that you, that you take up, man?

Jason Woodard: 37:52

I, you know this has kind of been my hobby. Um, I did woodworking for several years but we've gotten away from that Right, and so, yeah, it's kind of my podcast. And then my granddaughters I love just playing with my granddad, especially summertime, going outside and playing in the yard with him. This is tremendous joy. And then maintaining our home. I love to just keep the house maintained and work on it.

Chris Grainger: 38:13

I got you buddy. Yeah, I got you. How about favorite food? What's your go-to dish?

Jason Woodard: 38:18

Ooh burger and fries, man Just straight up old school Yep burger and fries.

Chris Grainger: 38:23

Okay.

Jason Woodard: 38:29

How about all time favorite movie? Ooh, all time favorite man. There's a couple I've got a couple that I keep going back to.

Chris Grainger: 38:37

Okay.

Jason Woodard: 38:38

I'm just trying to think and I'm terrible about remembering, remembering some of the titles of them. Captain Phillips was a really good one. Okay, yeah, that was really good. I've watched that several times. Hank oh shoot, who's the actor's name in that movie? He's super popular a real famous actor, tom Hanks. Tom Hanks, thank you, there you go. That was good, that was a really good movie. And then there was the one about I'm terrible at names the one about the oil rig that exploded off the coast in Houston, the BP oil rig.

Chris Grainger: 39:19

Oh yeah, that was Wahlberg right. Yeah, yes, yes, that's one of my favorites.

Jason Woodard: 39:24

I've watched that several times and then, so probably one of the most impactful ones I just had my youngest son watch this with me last Memorial Day was Taking Chance OK, if you've, if anyone is a military movie about a young Marine that dies and then him being escorted home and the whole process of that and it's just gives me chills even thinking about it. Taking chance was really really good. Saving private ryan incredible. Yeah, you know, I I love. I don't know, I don't know if it's the age or what, but world war ii documentaries I've got a locked in. Just watch a ton of those.

Jason Woodard: 40:00

So yeah, those are some of my. Those are some of my ones that I'm thinking about, the ones I've actually bought and will rewatch over and over. Those are probably all on my Amazon account.

Chris Grainger: 40:10

What about Superpower? So, if you could have a Superpower, which one would you have? How would you use it?

Jason Woodard: 40:16

Oh man, that's a great question. Superpower, I probably like flying like Superman, like get somewhere super quick just to go help people and be with people and visit them. Like wished I could be with people that aren't near me. If you could be with them like super fast, that would be cool. Yeah, like, hey man, I'm going to go down. I got family wherever down in Mississippi and I'm just going to fly down there in 15 minutes and hang out with them. You know, I hope it. I think in glory, I think I don't know this, this isn't a biblical thing, but my opinion, like glory, you'll be able to maybe do that.

Chris Grainger: 40:53

Just go immediately, be with people, you know, and hang out and fellowship talk about how amazing god is, and yeah, yeah, and conversely, then you may be able to immediately be away from people which I like to think about that at times. Oh man, what about you know? I love your, just your demeanor, the way that you talk so just openly about God. What's your favorite thing about God?

Jason Woodard: 41:20

Oh my gosh, His grace brother. I mean, there is, I've got. There's nothing that I've got that deserves his forgiveness and grace. There's nothing that I've got that deserves his forgiveness and grace. I was we didn't talk a lot about my testimony, but as I was a young man, I was an absolute rebel and lost and living a really dark life and it's just the fact that he pursued me and saved me and the fact that he hasn't given up on me, because I still struggle and I still sin and I still do stupid stuff and think stupid stuff and sinful things, and I thank him every day, chris, for his grace. Every morning I get up I thank him for his grace and his mercy because I don't deserve it and it's, it's overwhelming, you know, to have that hope. You know, in eternity and even now in life, you know the joy and the hope of salvation and fellowship with him is just amazing. It's amazing grace, like the song says it is brother.

Chris Grainger: 42:17

It certainly is. Let's flip it 180. So now, what's your least?

Jason Woodard: 42:23

favorite thing about the evil one oh man, oh man. I think that he makes evil and sin look good and tempting, like it's so like it looks light, like light, like the.

Jason Woodard: 42:38

Like the evil one comes in light. Like people. You know people take in the world. They take what god made that's meant to be good and it's twisted so he doesn't invent. Like it's like he can't invent or create anything right. Like pornography is a horrible twisting of something that is meant to be beautiful and celebrated in the context of marriage, right or any of the things God has given us work, you know, work was given by God before the fall to be a blessing and yet most people see it as a necessary evil. Why do I have to do it and I can't wait to retire. And he just takes these beautiful things and twists them and, you know, makes people. You're just, yeah, blinded to them. So that's a. He definitely has a yeah, blinded to them.

Chris Grainger: 43:28

So that's a he. He definitely has a way of doing that, brother. Well, you've done great in a lightning round, we'll do our last one is what do you hope to the listeners remember the most from our conversation today, bud.

Jason Woodard: 43:39

Well, I hope that the listeners will remember and be encouraged by just being faithful Don't, don't, we can't. Always, especially men, we got to not get hung up on results and I, brother, I got to remind myself of this every day. You know, my, my whole professional life is about numbers. You know operations, about hitting numbers, and I got to remind myself if I'm faithful and those numbers don't come. I was faithful, you know.

Jason Woodard: 44:06

I was faithful, and when you are faithful in your walk with Christ, planting the seeds, saying what you should say, speaking the truth in love, the outcome, the results, that's out of your hands, you know, and so we got to not hang our hats on that. We got to hang our hats on we're being faithful every day in our walk with the Lord.

Chris Grainger: 44:26

Amen to that brother, amen. Well, where do you want to send the guys that they're listening, to connect with you, to listen to your podcast? Any place you'd like to direct them?

Jason Woodard: 44:35

Yeah, I actually kind of a landing page that I have is Jason-Woodard, w-o-o-d-a-r-dcom, and you can find my podcast, d A R Dcom, uh, and you can find my, my pod. It's kind of a landing page for me, but my podcast is biblical leadership at work with an at symbol. Um, but you can, you can find it there. Um, I've got a blog that's about the podcast that you can get to my YouTube channel as well, but, uh, and then I'm also, you know, for those that are in the professional world, if you're active on LinkedIn, I'm on LinkedIn. I would love to connect with anybody. I stay pretty active on LinkedIn. I post some of my content there. So those are two good ways that they could reach out to me. You can also get my email through my website. You can email me and find all that stuff there. Message me on LinkedIn. Love to connect with other brothers out there serving the Lord doing their work. Absolutely love to do that.

Jason Woodard: 45:30

Amen brother, amen Well thank you so much for coming on. Anything else you'd like to share today? No man, Thanks for everything you're doing. I've you know what you're doing with the community and discipling others. I love it, so thank you, Keep up the great work. I'm praying the Lord will continue to bless that and sanctify men through that ministry.

Chris Grainger: 45:44

Amen, brother, that's. We're going to keep putting our hand to the plow, that's for sure.

Jason Woodard: 45:48

That's it.

Chris Grainger: 45:49

That's it so man have a great day, jason. Thank you again, sir. All right, thank you, brother. Take care If you're a man who's looking for greater spiritual guidance into how to become a better leader. Finding resources that you can trust and then implement can be daunting For me personally. I thought it was a lost cause and I decided to take the action, knowing that I wasn't alone. It was because of this wide gap that we created our line within this community, and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. For instance, we've built ways for guys to lean in and grow through fun events like our daily spiritual kickoff, where you get that much needed boost directly from God's word, our Bible studies that always focus on how to discern and apply what we learn, and even our amazing forum where you can speak your mind without fear of getting shut down or judged by the extreme rules of modern day social media. On top of all that, we know that many men won't help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens iron. Our community is about having a growth mindset, accountability, intentionality and transparency. In other words, just leave fake you at home and come to community, just as you are. I fully believe what we feel. I see the impact it's making on men right now and I would love to have you check it out. So start your very own 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. So if you're ready to take that first step, head over to thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and I'll see you inside with them. All right, fellas, I told you that was gonna be a good one. Big shout out. Thank you again, jason, for coming on.

Chris Grainger: 47:39

The question I want you to think about is do you think you can climb while serving? Think about that for a second and honestly reflect on that. Like, can you truly climb and progress as a leader if you're serving someone else? Now, how you answer that question really matters. So think about it and if you need help with it, come over to thelinewithinus, that lion within dot US, where we have these conversations all the time. We can help you understand what what your call is as a leader that God's called you to be. How can you step into that? If you run? If you run to a headwind, what do you do about it? If someone asks you a question that you have no clue how to answer from a biblical leadership standpoint, how do you answer it from a biblical leadership standpoint? How do you answer it? Where do you go for those to have those meaningful conversations when maybe you just don't have those connections or those types of relationships at your church?

Jason Woodard: 48:34

The Lion Within Us.

Chris Grainger: 48:35

That's what we built this for.

Chris Grainger: 48:37

So, hopefully you guys get a chance to check it out. Big again, thank you to Jason for sharing the wonderful insights he did today. So, guys, I encourage you to give us a rating. Give us a review head you did today. So, guys, I encourage you to give us a rating, give us a review.

Chris Grainger: 48:49

Head over to thelionwithinus to find all the ways you can connect with us directly. We'd love to hear from you, love to be a part, just to have you come join our community and to see what we're doing. So, again, thelionwithinus is how you find all that. Go check out our Christian Leader Assessment as well, particularly if you listen to this one. You're all about leadership. Go see how you stack up. So if you go to the line within that us, click on free tools, you'll see that Christian leader assessment. It's a great tool, a great resource. It's all free. Definitely love to have you. Just be encouraged If you would take a few minutes and check that out it takes about two minutes and see what type of leader you are. All right. So, guys, come back for our Fun Friday episode. We look forward to seeing you on Friday. Have a great day, get after it. Thank you for all the support and remember to keep unleashing the lion within.